Fear of coup prevented CDS appointment earlier: ex-Army chief

Terming the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as a welcome move, former Army chief General (retd) Shankar Roy Chowdhury on Wednesday said it had not been done earlier owing to the then political bosses' fear of a coup.

He said the appointment of a CDS was due for a long time and the services wanted it to be there in the country so that the Army, Navy and Air Force come under one umbrella, "but the problem was political."